Saving Old Seagulls

Good afternoon fellow Seagullions .
Having recently acquired this 1946/47 ish Bargepusher it has raised a couple of queries . With the "R" denoting Refurbed that an engine was refurbed what would have been the extent of the work carried out by BS . The Engine has a 1961 dated Villiers Mag' , fully functional and a barrel with no core plugs . Gear box is a 4 hole housing 4:1 ratio version and the Impellor housing a round outlet not flat oblong type . Of course it could be a Heinzer . But interesting to find any information on what the scope of Factory Refurb was , if indeed there is any documented information .
Eddie

That's a good question, but I am pretty sure you won't find any documented information about refurbishments. All we have is the recollections of the people who worked there, and the other Charles and myself worked quite hard at learning what we could. We were very fortunate to have the privilege of knowing the gentleman who actually carried out the repair and refurbishment at the factory for many years - either himself or with assistants.

The work carried out was done with a view to returning the motor to a "functionally as new" state, and that is pretty much what they did. They would incorporate new style bits and pieces, they had no idea that nowadays we would bemoan the lack of the original magneto or what-have-you. They simply got the thing into a "functioning like a new one" condition and that was it.

Before the factory closed down copious record were maintained in lots of big ledgers, and individual motors' details were entered. I don't know when this practice ceased, but the ledgers were unceremoniously chucked into a skip when the factory closed.

The "R" stamp didn't really have a prescribed position (or even font) and sometimes wasn't even applied.

Thanks Charles . The"R" is certainly a point for discussion . In this case the "R" is is the same Font and size as the original Teaps used . I'm sure many people have bought old Seagulls with an "R" stamped on the Crankcase and being it looks like a Heinzer have dismissed it as such but in fact may be a genuine complete factory refurb as I think all small repairs would have been carried by Authorised dealers but major overhauls done at the Factory . Just another Seagull mystery . You've to love them all the same .
Eddie